TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

crystallogic When I first saw this movie, I thought it was kind of slow and boring. I don't know what was wrong with me. I admit I had already checked out Zontar: The Thing from Venus on youtube some years before. I did it wrong and should really have watched Corman's It Conquered the World first. Zontar is a remake of this film that somehow manages to be sillier and is definitely far worse in the acting department. This one comes off quite a bit more serious and professional, which might turn out to be less appealing for some, I guess. The thing is: I am a fan of 50s sci-fi movies, and after a second, more considered viewing, I feel that this is one of the stronger ones. The reason? It's got some thought put into it; the characters are mostly rather sympathetic, there are no annoying child actors, it's free of cloying sentimentality or meaningless, dated patriotism or political messages. It's possible to read an anti-commy subtext into the film, if you want to, what with the alien mind control devices supressing emotions and free will and all, but I think you'd be clutching at straws to do so. Besides, isn't it Mars that's "The Red Planet", after all?It struck me that this film is actually a lot like the British classic, Quatermass/The Quatermass Xperiment/the Creeping Unknown. it's probably a coincidence, but still interesting how the stories can be viewed as parallel. here, of course, the satellite sent out into space is unmanned, so instead of a lost astronaut slowly turning into a Space Vegetable before going on a rampage, we get the Venusian Space Squash himself, who immediately finds a nice hot cave to hole up in so he can start mind controlling a few key personnel. It doesn't seem like the smartest plan at first, but I figure if he just turns the citizens of the town into a fighting force of some kind, and if they're the only ones with working power, he might eventually be able to storm the government or something, and enact bigger, more immediately profitable things.I mentioned the cast in my title, and indeed, Corman has assembled a small but reliable group of actors who acquit themselves very well, as far as these things go. Particularly I have to single out lee van Kleef as a rather sympathetic, misguided scientist, who gets lured into some kind of long-distance friendship with the alien, whom he is convinced is coming to Earth to save us from our evil, destructive natures. There were some classic science fiction stories with a similar premise, only in many of those that I can recall, the radio-alien did in fact turn out to be benevolent. not so here. it clearly seeks to dupe our mr Anderson, and enslave the world! Anderson's wife is played by a woman named Beverly Garland. I'm not sure off-hand if I've seen her in anything else, but I must say she delivers a concerned, somewhat intense performance, that was above average for this kind of film. Although, I must point out that her continual dismissal of her husband at the outset as a sick, insane man seems a little unfortunate. She means really well though, and after all, is kind of the quintessential "normal, caring 50s housewife", I guess. In the end, she transcends this and kind of becomes the hero of the piece.What struck me about this, moreso than in Zontar, which just seemed kind of bad-tempered (or maybe that was John Agar?), was just how grim this film actually is. Most of the characters die, and not very nicely. Dr. nelson shooting his wife was particularly cold-blooded seeming. He didn't even bother to try and find out whether she could be cured or something. It felt unusual to me that a 50s SF film should so mercilessly bump off its characters. In the end, I think it adds to the sense of authenticity or serious intent which this movie has. I've read comments about people finding this film slow and "talky", as if movies where people talk to each other are somehow a bad thing. To hell with that, I say. Sure, this film's dialogue is largely functional rather than stylistic, but you understand these characters and their motivations; you believe Van kleef and peter Graves' characters are friends and there's no doubt especially that Van Kleef's Anderson is not psychotic and genuinely wants to make the world a better place. All this makes the ending that much more tragic.Give this movie a chance, if you are into classic science fiction. If you are willing to settle in for the stately pace, and a story that depicts small stakes to represent much larger ones, I think you may well be as impressed as i eventually was.

Leofwine_draca An amusing, entertaining and cheesy little B-movie from exploitation king Roger Corman. All factors are present and correct for this typical alien invasion flick, from the violence to the bad special effects to the glamour content. Dispensing with any slow-paced moralising about humans destroying the planet, instead this film concentrates on a plot of alien possession, murder, and then take-over. The cheapness of the movie is clear, but doesn't detract from the inherent fun to be had from the simple premise.This film isn't remotely plausible, but don't let that put you off from watching. Where else can you see flying bat-creatures capable of possessing human beings? What if I were to say these creatures are poorly-animated and unconvincing? On top of that, another major plus is that the killer alien RESEMBLES A GIANT CARROT! That's right, it hides in a warm cave for most of the film's running time, only to emerge as a hulking vegetable with rubbery, crab-like pincers! The alien is only destroyed when a scientist sacrifices himself and shoves a blowtorch into its eye, unleashing a steady flow of strawberry jam from the empty socket! The acting is pretty wooden and non-existent, with one notable exception: a winning performance from Lee Van Cleef, who would later go on to star in numerous westerns. Cleef is exceptional as a multi-dimensional scientist, torn between his human instinct for survival and his willingness to help an alien invader conquer the world! His dilemma and eventual sacrifice is actually quite moving. On top of this, a high percentage of the cast die violently; all the women are sacrificed or murdered, and Corman regular Dick Miller appears as a comic-relief soldier. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is an obvious influence, but this doesn't stop IT CONQUERED THE WORLD throwing in its own ideas as well as a few snatches of fearful paranoia. Not bad at all; apart from the monster that is!

Paul Andrews It Conquered the World starts at NASA mission control where an expensive state of the art satellite is being launched, misguided physicist Dr. Tom Anderson (Lee Van Cleef) warns against such actions but his claims of impending doom are dismissed. Later that night at Tom's home his good friend & satellite designer Dr. Paul Nelson (Peter Graves) is round having dinner when Tom says he has something to show him, taking him to some computer equipment Tom claims he can speak to an alien creature from Venus but Paul is skeptical. Then Paul gets a phone-call to say that something is wrong with his satellite which has disappeared from radar, Tom knows that his Venusian friend has hijacked it & is using it as a ride to Earth where it lands in the Californian mountains. Hiding out in a cave & being helped by Tom the alien monster manages to stop Earth's power supply & bring it to a complete halt as it prepares to conquer the entire world by turning people into mindless zombies...Produced & directed by the prolific king of the cheapies Roger Corman this well remembered sci-fi monster flick from the 50's makes a valiant effort to be a bit deeper than most from the period but wooden dialogue, silly moments (some comedy relief soldiers & the rather sudden & cold blooded shooting of Joan by her husband Paul) & the infamously goofy cucumber alien monster prevent it from being anything other than a fun piece of dated cinematic nostalgia. Clocking in at a fairly brisk 70 odd minutes long It Conquered the World still manages to drag in places with it's exposition heavy script, It Conquered the World is a very talky film & I got the impression every line was meant to have some deep meaning but watching it today the dialogue comes across as really wooden & stiff, silly little speeches that are supposed to have great meaning feel tired & actually slow the film down. From the story about alien invaders that arrive under the pretence of peace & idealogical scientists It Conquered the World played on the fear of war while various popular sci-fi themes of the time are mercilessly copied from the stand alien invasion to the body snatching themes of being taken over, the idea of a world without emotion is at the core of the script as it tries to stress how important free will & free thinking is. Of course when all said & done It Conquered the World is still a silly 50's monster film but I saw a little bit more effort & meaning here than other similar films of the period even if it had no great impact or effect on me. The potential was here for a great little sci-fi film that was never realised because of a low budget, wooden script & a laughable monster.Although titled It Conquered the World a more appropriate title would have been It Conquered an Insignficant Cave as the monster doesn't really do that much & it's unclear quite what it's ultimate plan & goal are. Does it want to control the human race or destroy it? When finally seen at the end the monster does look very silly with it static rubber faced features & it's squat little body with a huge cone shaped grown on top of it's head as it sort of glides & shuffles along the ground. It does have two cool looking crab like claws though. There are also some flying bat like alien monsters that look like they are being flown into shot on fishing rods, the props were then reused in Roger Corman's next film The Undead (1957).Filmed in just five days in California it was released by AIP in 1956 on a double bill with The She-Creature (1956), the cast are pretty poor here although it's odd seeing the late great Lee Van Cleef in this.It Conquered the World is not a bad attempt at a sci-fi film with meaning but does fall way short thanks to a talky script & a goofy monster, however there's enough fun & good intention here to make It Conquered the World an enjoyable way to waste on hour. Was used as the basis for the Mystery Science Theatre 3000: It Conquered the World (1991) television episode while it was also remade by Larry Buchanan as Zontar: The Thing from Venus (1966).

MARIO GAUCI I would not exactly call this a good film but it certainly exemplifies what a guilty pleasure is – since it features one of the goofiest monsters ever (actually rivaling ROBOT MONSTER [1953]) in its clumsy carrot-shaped Venusian! In fact, I enjoyed it more than Corman's ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS (1957) – precisely because of its having well-known faces in the lead roles, namely Peter Graves (well suited to this type of film, as confirmed by the title which followed in my Halloween challenge i.e. Bert I. Gordon's BEGINNING OF THE END [1957]), Beverly Garland (though saddled with a one-note character) and Lee Van Cleef (too young to play an eccentric scientist in exile but this actually adds to the film's quirkiness). The 'invasion' takes the form of widespread power failure a' la THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) and eventually an emotion-drained personality (after being pricked in the neck by a bat-like control device – perhaps a nod to INVADERS FROM MARS [1953]): as with many films of its ilk, the villain here is really Communism and, in fact, Graves brands Van Cleef a traitor for having led the alien to our planet in the misguided belief that it would solve mankind's problems! However, the film – running a brisk 68 minutes – balances its cautionary messages with action, movement (scenes depicting military maneuvers and the panic-stricken townsfolk) and even poignancy (Graves is forced to kill his wife after she has been 'taken over'); that said, we still have to contend with Van Cleef's 'climactic' tussling with the ultra-fake alien and the wacky combo of Dick Miller and Jonathan Haze (made to look and sound Hispanic) leading the soldiers!